U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,712, issued to Charles O. Perry discloses several embodiments of a chair having a seat, a back, and a frame which flexes to permit partial reclining of the back. The flexible frame is biased into a configuration in which the back is upright. When the user tilts the back into a reclining position (thereby flexing the frame as well as pivoting the back relative to the frame), the frame (as it flexes) lifts up the rear portion of the seat, thus orienting the seat so as to provide better support for the reclining user. The frame implements stops which limit the amount by which the back can pivot relative to the frame.
However, the chair described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,712 is not designed to be knocked down into a flat (or substantially flat) state. Until the present invention, it had not been known how to implement a chair which can be pivoted into a reclining configuration and which is also designed to be readily disassembled into (and then reassembled from) a flat or substantially flat state.